ChiddingstoneThe National Trust bought the entire village of Chiddingstone,Kent. including the church, houses and post office, in 1939 to ensure its preservation. The houses in the village are generally of the 16th and 17th-century. However, the building that is now the post office is mentioned as far back as 1453 and many of the other buildings probably took materials from earlier settlements. Over 70 per cent of the buildings in Chiddingstone are more than 200 years old.

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Church at Steeple BartonSt Mary the Virgin at Steeple Barton where the children of Richard and Mary Bassett were christened.

George StirlingGeorge Ephrain Sterling, son of James Sterling and Sarah Bassett. Born 1866 in Cobourg, Ontario, died 1942 in Kent County, Ontario. Married Wilhelmine Galbraith in 1893. The photographer was E. B. Neal of Port Hope which you can see on the photo. George was my maternal grandfather. This photo came from my grandmotherís album.
Glenda Lather

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Hints Hall,Staffordshire,EnglandRalfe Bassett b 1405 married Margaret(Maud)Dethik (widow)and in doing so was the first Bassett to hold Hints.Thomas Bassett b 1475 was the second Bassett to hold Hints.Walter Bassett b 1567 and his wife Sconsolate Greville held Hints but the Bassetts were in decline during this time and Hints was finally lost by the family in abt 1604.
The picture is of the secondbuild of Hints Hall.

John Bassett 1830 with his wife Catherine and sister SarahJohn Bassett,born in Oxborough,Norfolk,England in 1830 with his wife Catherine Ann,nee Marvin born four years later in Ireland and his sister Sarah Bassett Sterling. Sarah is standing. Sarah lived with John and Catherine in Port Hope,Ontario after the death of her husband James Sterling.

Sarah Bassett 1833- 1916 Sarah Bassett was born in Oxborough,Norfolk,England and was a daughter of Henry Bassett born 1799 She is shown with her husband James Stirling. This photograph is believed to be their wedding photograph.

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Sarah Bassett 1833-1916Born in Oxborough,Norfolk and emigrating from England to Ontario,Canada Sarah married James Stirling in Canada.

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Sarah Bassett StirlingThis photo of Sarah Bassett Sterling is a tintype. Sarah is a daughter of Henry Bassett and Jane Mendham, born in Oxborough, 25 April 1833. She came with her parents and siblings to Canada in about 1836. Sarah married James Sterling before 1858. They lived in Durham County, Ontario, Canada until they moved to Harwich Township, Kent County, Ontario sometime before 1863. When James died in 1886 Sarah returned to Port Hope where she lived with her brother John and his wife Catherine until her death in 1916. She is buried in St. Johnís Cemetery, Port Hope, Ontario.
Glenda Lather

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Sir Henry CavendishHenry Cavendish was the 2nd Duke of Newcastle and son of Elizabeth Bassett.He was born in 1630 but died in 1691 without a son.His estate passed to his daughter Margaret whose husband the Earl of Clare became the third Duke of Newcastle.

St John the Evangelist,Oxborough,NorfolkThis church gets a lot of visitors for several reasons, one of which is that one afternoon in 1948, the great tower and spire tottered, crumbled, and came crashing down into the church below.

By the time the dust had settled, it was obvious that the damage was considerable, although by some miracle the early 16th century Bedingfield Chapel to the south of the chancel had survived. The former tower and nave area have been grassed over now, the north arcade and aisle wall retained as the kind of colonnade you might expect to find in an Italian hill town, the chancel given a new west wall and the Bedingfield chapel given its own entrance. The overall effect is rather lovely, a cluster of ecclesiastical buildings in a garden.

Another reason for so many visitors is that the church sits immediately to the north of the National Trust's Oxburgh Hall, one of the most spectacular Houses in Norfolk. For historical reasons the Hall has its own chapel, but the life of the Hall has touched the history of this church in a major way.

It was fortunate the Bedingfield chapel survived, because it contains a pair of what have been described as the best terracotta tombs in England. To stand in the chapel is to be surrounded by the full glory of the English Catholic Church on the eve of the Reformation. The earlier of the two for Margaret Bedingfield forms a triumphant entrance screen to the west of the chapel, and through the other you can see into the chancel. They are massive, canopied and elaborately decorated in the international renaissance style, and lead visitors to wonder what would have happened to design in England if it had not parted from the European Church.

The Bedingfields still live at the Hall.They were a major Catholic family,refusing to attend services of the newly established Church of England but despite this choosing to be buried in the parish church even after the Anglicans took it over. The memorial to the two Henry Bedingfields had to wait half a century to proclaim their Stuart sympathies. The chapel is a curious place, quite unlike a church and more like a state room in a palace.

To enter the church itself you need to go back outside, and in through the west door. The interior is lovely , with a Festival of Britain crispness to the way it was restored. The memorials rescued from the rubble are now on the south wall, and there is also a fine piscina and sedilia. There is some good surviving medieval glass depicting Old Testament prophets and a king, but the medieval roodscreen is now at East Dereham.

The Castle InnThe Castle Inn at Chiddingstone.Kent,England. The Inn was first mentioned in 1420 as Waterslip House.It became an inn about 1730 and is still open today. It is owned by the National Trust.

The Chiding StoneThis sandstone rock is situated in the outskirts of Chiddingstone. This stone is believed to mark the spot where local wives were "chided" for wrongdoing.It is also described as a landmark defining a Saxon border.

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The Church at Dives-sur-Mer,Normandy.The Church at Dives-sur-Mer is where mass was said for William the Conqueror and his knights prior to setting sail to invade England in 1066. The Pope had sent his standard to accompany the invaders. Above the west door is a plaque listing the names of those present.

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The church at SapcoteWilliam, the youngest of the three grandsons of Henry I.'s Justiciary Ralph Bassett was the ancestor of the Bassets of Sapcote. He served as Sheriff of Warwick and Leicestershire for eight consecutive years in the reign of Henry II., and was afterwards one of the Justices Itinerant of Yorkshire

The church of St Bartholomew at BloreSt Bartholomew,Blore,Staffordsh. Blore village was the home of the Bassett family from the mid 15th century and they were responsible for the hall and much of the church and its contents which include the alabaster tomb of William Bassett V (d 1601). The family are buried in a vault beneath the tomb, though unfortunately this was robbed in the early 19th century and the lead coffins stolen, so the vault is now sealed.

Beneath the north aisle is a 15th century brass commemorating William Bassett II and his wife Joan, and there is some notable old stained glass.

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The Dives Roll Commemorating those thought to have been present at the mass said for William the Conqueror and his men prior to the battle of Hastings in 1066

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The fireplace at Blore HallSir John Bassett b 1345 was the first to hold Blore.
Sir William Bassett,whose tomb is at the church of St Bartholomew was the last to hold Blore

Thomas Howard 4th Duke of NorfolkThomas Howard was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey . He was taught as a child by John Foxe , the Protestant martyrologist , who remained a lifelong recipient of Howard's patronage. His father predeceased him and so Thomas inherited the Dukedom of Norfolk upon the death of his grandfather, the 3rd Duke of Norfolk in 1554.